You're an Angel
by Xena Avenger
Summary: Angel reunites with Buffy as a human, but things don't go as she'd planned. In fact, pretty much as horrible as possible. Can't say too much or I'll give it away.
1. Once Was Lost

_**AN: This story was originally a random idea for my 'The Journey, Not the Destination' series, but I figured it wouldn't fit. **_

_**The idea was formed in my mind from two things: **_

_**Reading 'Nephilim' by Agrove, I really loved the Angel/Buffy moments with his wings. **_

_**And the song from the BONES CD 'Angel' by Sinead O'Connor.**_

_**I'll recommend both but neither are necessary to read this fic.**_

* * *

**_You're an Angel_**

**_*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*...*. ..*_**

NOW:

Buffy stood staring down at the freshly filled grave, her heart numb. Not feeling the tears as they slid down her cheeks to fall from her face and seep into the dark rich earth that had so recently been disturbed to accommodate the final resting place of her beloved.

In under a day, she was given the most wonderful gift she could ever imagine, and had to lose it almost as fast as she gained it.

Angel had been human, given back his long lost mortality as a reward for his heroism.

Buffy had been skeptical at first, but once she'd felt his heart beating, strong and steady in his chest, she'd quickly shed her misgivings and opened her heart to him again.

They'd spent hours together, sitting in a small café or walking hand in hand in the park. Both enjoying the beautiful sunny summer day.

Words had flowed easily between them, catching up on so much uncommunicative time.

A whole year of her life was already being planned in her mind; slow re-introductions, coffee dates, dinners and movies. Casual dating follow by more serious romance. Moving in together, being intimate without risking the world as they know it...and all of that wouldn't have to go in that exact order.

First off however, came introducing him to food.

Eager to herald Angel into the wonderful world that was junk food, she'd left his side for only a few minutes to get them coffee and doughnuts.

That was all it took.

* * *

THEN:

Buffy smiled at the coffee shop attendant as he handed her the drink tray and the bag of doughnuts.

_'I can't wait for Angel to finally try a doughnut!'_

The eager blond turned and was about to head for the door when a screech and bang echoed throughout the building. The sound echoed through her very soul. She stood frozen for a moment, she could feel the bullet as it lodged into her chest, but she knew it hadn't hit her.

It hadn't actually been a bullet as all, it had been a truck.

'_Angel'_ She didn't know how she knew, she just did.

Her heart twisted as she lost control over the purchases in her hand. Raining coffee and pastries onto the white speckled floor as her feet moved swiftly out the door. It only took seconds for her to run to the spot she had left her human love.

Quickly, with tears steaming down her face, she pushed gawking onlookers from the crowd aside and cleared a path to her Angel. "Call an ambulance." She ordered to a guy trying to take a picture with his phone.

Once free of the mass, her eyes were left to focus on the scene. Tears welled in her eyes as they fell on Angel, lying sprawled on his back in the street, a dark red liquid pooling beneath him.

A Forest green Ford pickup truck with a shattered windshield and dented fender was smoking slightly off to the side. The cracked glass spotted with red.

Only a few more steps and she was kneeling beside him, her hand slowly reaching out to touch his already bruising cheek.

His closed eyes fluttered then opened at the gentle touch.

A grief filled smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she saw the bloodshot left iris. "Angel?" she called to him.

It took a moment for his glassy eyes to focus on hers, a weak smile slowly spread across his mouth. She would have thought the smile to be beautiful, had it not been tinted with fresh blood.

His blood.

"Buffy" he crocked, voice weak and hoarse from pain of a shattered rib-cage.

Her fingers slid over his lips, "Shh, don't talk. Just…just hang on Ok? The ambulance will be here soon. Just…don't leave me again," She whispered thought unrestrained tears.

Her eyes drifted to his chest, even though his t-shirt, which had been a light grey but was now a deep crimson, she could see the concave dent that had not been present earlier. He gasped in pain as she tried to apply pressure to stop the bleeding and quickly removed her digits.

"I'm sorry" she whispered for causing him pain. Her heart lurched as she acknowledged the mortal wound.

His dark eyes focused up at her, eyes filling with tears as well. "Sokay Buffy" he whispered to her, she had to lean closer to hear him. His words were weak, but the blow was strong. "I'm ready."

She shook her head furiously, "No, no your not. You can't be…I just got you back." She cried to him, not even trying to fight the wall of tears threatening to drown her. _'This can't be happening, it can't be!'_ The voice in her mind screamed.

He reached a hand out to touch her cheek; she had to help guide his numbing fingers. As she held his hand against her face, she felt his thumb run along her skin. "I'm not afraid." He mumbled through the haze of pain and disorientation.

"I am." She countered, squeezing his palm tightly.

"I'm sorry. If I'd known…" he paused as pain silenced him, after a moment he continued, "…never wanted to…hurt you again." He felt terrible, not because he was dying, but because once again he'd given her hope for a future together, just to have it snatched away. His only comfort was she didn't remember the first time it had happened.

"Shh, please don't. You're going to be ok." Her mind told her he wasn't, but her heart refused reality.

He shook his head, "I under…stan now. This is…my redemption." Blood slipping over his lips added to the puddle under him.

"No, no living is your redemption! Dying isn't redemption, Angel! It's just death!" She yelled in frustration, begging the steadily growing drone of the rescue truck to arrive quicker, but knowing it would be too late.

His words were growing fainter as his life fluid soaked into the cracked asphalt, she had to bend closer and stain hard to hear anything over the roar of the sirens. "As a demon…I…I could never be…redeemed. As a man…my soul…is clean."

"Angel Please!" She begged him, but he couldn't hear her words anymore.

The bright afternoon sun did little to warm her as she sat in a cold silence while looking down at his still form. The first responders worked diligently on Angel's body, but they all knew it was now just a show now, the main attraction was already over.

Angel was beyond revival.

No amount of CPR or drugs or shocks would change that.

His rib-cage had been crushed by the front fender of the truck, his body sailing over the smooth green metal to smash against the Plexiglas windshield. The screaming brakes had launched him off the vehicle to impact the unforgiving road, somewhere in between, his spine and limbs retching in unnatural angles.

The reason this all happened stood looking wide eyed at his rescuer from the arms of his mother, the three year old unable to process the complexities of life and death, but on a basic level, knew he'd been in trouble and a nice man had saved him.

Little Jack had run out in front of the Ford now sitting in idle on the middle of the crowded street, his young eyes had only seen the pigeon he'd been chasing as his mother stopped to buy them a hotdog from a vendor.

Angel had seen the danger, and acted automatically.

Unfortunately he'd lacked the vampire reflexes he'd grown accustomed to.

He'd pushed the boy to safety, but hadn't been able to move fast enough himself.

The boy walked away unscathed, the pigeon flew away unnoticed.

Angel hadn't.

* * *

Back to Now:

For six months, Buffy slowly fought back the waves of depression that had threatened to drown her since Angel's death.

It was like coming back from Heaven all over again.

Her dreams of late had been her only shelter from the grief-storm.

Angel, alive and human, spending a whole day with him in a way they'd never been able. The dream was so real sometimes, she honestly thought it could be a memory.

_'Cookie dough fudge mint chip ice cream, crunchy peanut butter on chocolate wafers...how both tasted on Angel's tongue.'_

She knew those dreams couldn't be real, Angel had indeed been human, but for less than a week. Her time with him had been cruelly short, lasted only hours before death stole him back from the safety of her arms.

Slaying was what kept her going, the need to stop demons from picking off the naive populous of LA.

_'The city of Angels, minus the Angel that had been it's protector.'_

Even since the city lost its vampire guardian, she'd taken to filling the hole.

…

Her first nightly stop was finished.

Leaving his grave behind, she continued on with the rest of the night's routine.

On autopilot, she slipped the stake from its sheath beneath her coat and rounded the corner to where she knew a vampire was lurking.

There was no witty banter, no prelude.

Stake, heart, dust.

She moved on to the next block, sacred duty keeping her moving.

...

The night was growing old, the pickings becoming less available as vampires prepared for sunrise.

Buffy continued on in search of more prey, needing to delay the tears a little longer by wearing the Slayer mask.

As the sky lightened, her heart fell with the realization there was nothing left to stake.

Disheartened, she turned and headed back towards home.

And emptiness.

And tears.

As she passed an alley, one still bathed in total darkness by the twin buildings on either side, she felt the prickle on her neck of a demon nearby.

Entering the barely two car wide passage, her hazel green eyes glanced around. "Finally, a challenge." She muttered half interested as half a dozen red spiky headed demon materialized from the shadows, each pointing their eerie glowing red eyes on her lithe form.

"Heard a Slayer was guarding this town, just like a little bitch." The closest spoke, long fangs dripping with saliva.

"Dog puns huh? Well in that case, say it again so I can put you down." She countered, silently playing out the battle in her mind and liking the math.

Out numbered 6 to 1, not bad odds in her opinion.

5 more demons filled into the alley behind her.

_'Ok, now not so good._' She thought internally as her odds went way down, but the calm anticipation on her face didn't give away her feeling of dread.

"Can we get this over with, I have more important matter to attend to than a bunch of rude about to be corpses." Forced it's way from between her lips. On the inside, a part of her was wondering if this would be it, the fight that finally felled the infamous Buffy Summers. A small part kinda hoped it was.

Unending grief was getting old. Ever since Angel died, the light in her life had snuffed out with him. Spending years apart hadn't mattered. At least he'd been in this world still, fighting and making a difference. He didn't need to be near her for the presence of him to keep her going. Now that he was truly gone, that feeling was too.

She really was alone.

Giles, Willow, Xander, Dawn, they were all still in her life…but a part of her soul had died that day, a part she knew she'd never get back.

"Oh there'll be a corpse all right, yours!" The demon responded in overly evil dramatics, dragging her thoughts back into reality, as his vile grinning mouth gave off a fowl odor through a mouthful of pointed teeth.

"How original." Buffy huffed as her stake lashed at the nearest demon as he tried to ambush her from behind.

All he got for his efforts was a hole where his right eye used to be. At least he didn't mind...you know, being dead an all.

As the first fell, three more rushed forwards.

Buffy was ready, swinging arms and legs out like heat seeking missiles, taking out heads and limbs.

A few minutes in and she thought the battle was going well, 4 down for good, two more dazed, only 5 to go.

Even after spending the last few months in relatively light slay conditions, her reflexes hadn't grown soft. However, the skills of the demons weren't typical, they were actually good.

So much in fact, one caught Buffy under the chin with a surprise backward kick, which brought her crashing to the ground. Two more were ready for her, grabbing her arms and yanking them apart, painfully rendering her immobile as the others regrouped and surrounded her.

Arms held in iron grips, she found she couldn't break their grasp, she had nothing to kick and no leverage to pull away.

She was trapped.

"So Bitch, what did you say about being put down?" The lead demon asked, a delightful gleam in his flaming eyes as he realized he would win this fight and be forever known as Hellgar, Killer of Slayers.

His claws itched to bury themselves in her flesh, to taste hot slayer blood as it ran down his throat, to eat the heart of the 'world's oldest and strongest slayer'.

Buffy narrowed her eyes, muscles straining however uselessly against her captors. She wouldn't die begging for mercy, not go out without a fight.

"Bite me." She spat.

"I plan to." He grinned, spittle already dripping from his fangs as he neared. His lackeys holding her tighter as she struggled.

She felt his hot drool drip onto her neck as Hellgar leaned in, breathing deep of her scent. She shuttered as his mouth grazed her skin, sending goosebumps up her limps and down her spine.

Buffy clammed her eyes shut, she wouldn't watch as that creature bit into her, wouldn't give it the satisfactions of seeing her fear.

"Good dogs don't bite."

The words came in right before the muzzle on her neck vanished, immediately followed by the sound of flesh hitting flesh and a pained yelp.

The vise-like grip on her right arm disappeared and her now free limb made short work of the other demon holding her left.

In under 10 seconds, she had all the demons dead and she was left standing in the empty alley looking bewildered.

_'I could have sworn I'd heard Angel's voice._' She thought looking around and wiping the spittle off her neck, the words mirroring what he'd said the night The Three had captured her.

Figuring she really was losing it, she turned around to exit the alley.

She stopped short.

Her eyes widened and she took an automatic step back, hazel green eyes scanning over the being that stood in front of her, as solid and real looking as the boots on her feet.

"Angel?" Her voice escaped her throat in a tight whisper, the tube threatening to close down altogether.

"Buffy" He spoke as he took a step forward, a light smirk as his lips as he looked her over, greedily drinking in her appearance like a parched man downing water.

Paralysis broke, her foot moved a step backwards, away from him. "No, no you...you can't be...you're dead."

"You never minded." He replied lightly as he took another step closer.

Buffy shook her head, repeating her backwards retreat towards the alley mouth. "Angel was human when he died, you're not him."

"I came back from Hell, why not Heaven?" He paused his forward momentum, letting her pause her retreat.

Tears threatened to blind her, the being standing right in front of her so closely resembled the only man she'd ever truly loved. "It's not possible" The remark slipped from her tongue, desperately wanting it to be true, but knowing her lover was long since dead and buried.

"It is, Buffy." He assured, not moving forward but pleading for a chance with his deep brown eyes.

"How?" The question came quickly, desperately.

He grinned a little, "It's easier to just show you."

He stepped forward again, this time her feet refused to move her away.

In under a second he was close enough to touch.

Slowly, he bent forward.

She lifted her head, ready to accept a kiss, even if she were crazy.

His lips found her skin, but not on her mouth. A feather light touch brushed over each of her eyelids.

When his contact broke, she opened the eyes she hadn't realized she'd closed.

The tall dark haired man standing before her took a step back, and her eyes scanned over him, taking in his appearance. He looked the same; messy spiked hair, deep brown eyes, large muscled frame hidden beneath black dress pants and a silk deep crimson long sleeved button down. The black leather duster swayed around his long legs in the gentle breeze flowing into the alley.

Movement caught her attention, something appearing from behind him so suddenly she barely had time to blink.

Her eyes widened in awe, mouth nearly falling to the dirty asphalt road beneath her feet.

"Oh, my, God." She said quietly, barely able to take in the sight of the large pearl white wings that had opened out from Angel's back.

Taking an involuntary but completely necessary step forwards, her fingers brushed her lips as her hand hovered shocked over her mouth. "You...you're...an angel."

The corners of his mouth twitched, "Ironic huh?"

...

TBC...


	2. Re-Introductions

...

As suddenly as the awe came, it went. Her eyes pulled back into her head and she opened her mouth for the questions what wouldn't be suppressed. "How?"

He shrugged, the wings following suit as his shoulder muscles contacted. "As a mortal, when I died, I was innocent. The demon's sins had been wiped clean from my soul when I was made human. My last act on Earth was to give my life to save a child…for that, I was given the choice of eternal bliss…or this."

"And what exactly is this?" She questioned towards his wings.

"I'm a Guardian." He answered with a tone of pride.

"Like, guardian angel, type guardian?" She questioned.

The smirk returned. "Exactly like that."

"Who's guardian are you?" The question seemed rational.

He leaned in closer, his lips nearly touching her ear. "I'm yours."

A shiver ran up her spine and she stepped back, looking wonder struck up at him. "Mine?"

"Yours" He repeated with a smile that melted her heart.

Pulling back from him and adding a good body length of distance, she shook her head and countered, "Great, so my ex vampire ex just decides to show up one day, alive, and try to get back together…just to drop dead hours later and leave me mourning for six months. Then he just figures he'll pop back into my life and tell me he's my guardian angel. How about no. I don't need you lurking around me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week...not again."

He recoiled from the venom in her tone. "Buffy, I…"

"You what Angel? Expected me to drop everything and run into your arms? Wanted me to jump at the chance of being stalked and treated like a child? I can take care of myself, I don't need anyone to fight my battles for me! I've made it this far on my own, I don't need you of all people to play body guard." Anger was flaring in her, outraged he'd come back like this and screw with her shattered heart again.

The guy just couldn't stay dead...or alive...or undead...

He backed away from her as she yelled her frustrations out at him.

"The only thing you've ever been good at is leaving me alone! Don't try and change that now!

He reeled in his disappointment, and slowly nodded. "If that's what you want, I'll go."

"It is." She shot back, unable to leash her emotional backlash.

Only his wings replied with a light breeze as they carried him up into the sky and quickly out of sight.

The moment he vanished, so did her anger.

She stood standing alone in the alley, the bodies of the demons already melting into goo.

Tears pricked at her eyes again and she swallowed the cry that threatened to break out of her throat. '_What the hell just happened?_' Her spinning mind demanded, trying to process what she'd experienced.

_'I'm going crazy._' The thought explained almost everything.

Grasping tight to that idea, she went home and took the hottest shower she could.

Afterwards she dragged her tried body into bed and wept herself to sleep.

…

Buffy walked down the empty side street, eyes dancing along the skyline and back, silently hoping to find any traces that her mind hadn't been playing tricks on her last night.

She'd had a whole 24 hours to let her temporary insanity dis-spell and after hours of telling herself she'd blacked out and dreamed it, she was pretty confident that was what happened.

Her voice had called out her dead ex-lover's name for a good half-hour now, in a vein attempt to assure herself she was still on the top side of sane.

So far it was working out pretty well.

She pushed the tears back again, refusing to let her emotions run away with her as they had the last few months since Angel's death.

"I imagined it." She told herself, voice not quite carrying the strength she wanted to give her words. "I either bumped my head…or spontaneously went crazy."

"You're not crazy"

The words made her jump as she spun around, eyes not immediately seeing the source of the familiar voice.

"Sorry." An apology came from above her, for startling her.

Craning her neck to look up, she saw a badly neglected fire escape balcony and staircase. Perched on the railing, was Angel.

He stood from his crouch and took a step onto empty space, falling roughly 25 feet before his wings snapped open and caught hold of the air.

His feet touched down on asphalt soundlessly.

Buffy swallowed hard as his wings tucked back behind him, nearly invisible as they folded up tight like a birds.

"You took long enough." She forced her mouth to say, wanting to make him uncomfortable…to even the playing field. Even if she was talking to a figment of her imagination.

"I got held up." He replied cryptically.

"Meaning what?" She demanded.

He shrugged. "A demon, ancient prophesy... you know the drill."

"Still atoning then?" She asked, wondering if he was still trying to pay back all the lives he took as a demon by saving others.

He shook his head, "No, I don't save people for my own selfish redemption anymore. I help because I can, because I want to."

"Oh" She said, cheeks slightly reddening in embarrassment. "Well, as long as you're happy about it."

"You're not." It wasn't a question.

She shook her head, turned and walked away from him, "Ok, I really don't need to be having a conversation with a dead guy right now...or worse, a dead guy I'm hallucinating in my own head."

_'Why the hell did I come out here anyways, the last thing I need for my sanity is to have 'Angel' show up and my life, scramble my head and leave again…like he always does.'_

In her hurry, she didn't notice him move until she walked straight into him, suddenly finding herself pressing against his navy blue silk shirt.

A very real and solid form beneath her fingers.

_'Ok, so defiantly **not** a hallucination.'_

"You used to enjoy it." He responded, hooking a finger under her chin and raising her eyes to meet his. Referencing both saving people and speaking to him.

"Past tense." She gritted out, prying herself off and increasing her steps away from him.

When she rounded the alley corner she stopped dead in her tracks as Angel leaned against the wall across from her. She turned her head back into the alley where he'd been a second ago then back where he'd appeared a moment later.

He shrugged, "Wings." The pearly white appendages fluttered in mock flight.

She rolled her eyes and let out a breath. "I don't care to be followed." She bit out.

"You called me here." He replied, his face and voice neutral.

"Wrong number." She shot back. "I was bluffing myself, hoping I really was crazy."

For a moment, she thought she saw him deflate a little, a slight frown pull at his lips.

_'Really, really nice lips…I wonder if they still feel the same…Whoa, ok pulling out of that train of thought. Just keep walking Buffy. Last thing you need is to be having daytime fantasies about dead guys...again.'_

He called after her retreating steps, "I'm not just going to disappear."

"Like I haven't heard that before." She countered back, turning but not seeing him. '_As I was saying.'_

She faced forward and again he was only two feet in from of her. "Stop doing that!" She yelled, holding her hand over her pounding heart.

"Buffy, it's not set in stone that I be your guardian. If this isn't what you want...then you have every right to say no." She thought the words sounded forced from his lips, like he didn't want her to know.

The words did made her steps falter, part of her wanted to just shout 'Yes, go away' another part wanted to scream 'No, stay.'

She'd been mourning him for months, and now here he was again. Buffy knew she couldn't stand to have that carpet pulled out from under her again.

"Even if I say yes, what would that mean for me? I can't have you just popping in and out of my life, I can't take that. Its…it's too much."

"Buffy, being a guardian isn't a part time job." He stepped closer, "We're always close, you just don't normally see us."

"That gets us right back to the 'you can see me and I can't see you' argument." She threw back at him from Thanksgiving a few years ago.

"Except you **can** see me." He rationalize.

"So I'll only get to see you when I'm fight demons or otherwise in danger?" She questioned back, not exactly loving that idea.

"You can see me whenever you want. I'm here for as long as you want me here." He said sincerely.

That made her retreat pause, "What if I want someone to walk me to the ice cream shop? Or see a movie when the gang doesn't have time? Or have a picnic?" '_What if I'm lonely and just want you around.'_ She thought the real meaning.

Angel had an idea where she was going with her question. "If you accept my guardianship, I can choose to live on Earth more or less like a mortal. I'll be able to go anywhere or do anything you want me to do."

"Just like that?" She stated, folding her arms over her chest.

"Just like that." He assured back.

"For how long?" She questioned, still feeling like this was one of those 'too good to be true' offers and searching for holes.

His lips turned up a little, feeling like he was winning her over, "For as long as you live, which I'll make sure is a long, long time."

"Until I die? Is that the only escape?" That sounded like a shittly job, til death do you part.

Shrugging, "Either that, or until you tell me to leave."

"What if you got sick of being my guardian, could you quit?" She wanted to know if he could back out on her, vanish again or if he'd be more of less forced to remain with her. Neither would be appealing. If Angel was going to be with her, she didn't care for it to be because he had to be.

"In theory; I suppose, but unlikely." He answered.

She turned away from him, tempted but still worried her heart would get ripped to shreds again as it always did when Angel was around.

"I…I don't know. Can I have time to choose?"

"You can have all the time you need." He assured.

...

Buffy sat on her couch with a cup of hot chocolate. She remembered her mother used to make it for her when she needed a pick-me-up. A lot of little worries dissolved as easily as mini marshmallows over a cup of thick liquid chocolate, but apparently not Angel related issues.

'_You can have all the time you need._'

It had been almost a week since she left him standing in that alley.

She hadn't gone out looking for him specifically and he hadn't appeared during any of her patrols.

Granted nothing had really appeared lately.

The demon populous of LA seemed to have suffered a sharp decline in the last week, and she knew neither her or any other slayers had anything to do with it.

_'I guess __Angel__ took his city back._' She thought idly, swirling the melted marshmallow bits in her cup.

Honestly, she still wasn't sure how she felt about that.

Angel was back. Not exactly alive, but here. Physically interact-able with...and she hadn't done much but yell at him.

She took a sip but barely tasted it. Her mind was too distracted by all the indecision's to bother with something as minuscule as flavors.

_'Can I let him back in to my life? Can I really live with him being around me all the time? Would we be able to have a relationship? Or is that a huge proverbial 'No-no' just waiting to get us both sent to hell? Can an angel even have a love life? Should I even be thinking about a love life before even knowing if we can be friends? Or can we even _be_ friends?'_

The conversation in her mind repeated daily, the answers never finding their way into her head.

Pouring her now cold beverage in the sink, she retreated upstairs to get dressed and head out for a walk to clear her head.

...

Buffy had gone less than a block when she'd spotted him leaning casually by an Oak tree in the park, his dark gaze studying her as she moved past.

_'Great, just what I needed._' She thought with a mix of relief and annoyance.

"And here I'd hoped you'd gone and fluttered off again." She mumbled casually as she passed by him without stopping. He took a few long steps and walked at pace along side her. "I'm sorry. Had some things to take care of."

"Apology not necessary." She stated blankly, "It was just like old times."

"I would have come if you'd needed me." He defended, growing tired of the cold shoulder routine.

"Well I didn't, you know, cus I'm the slayer and perfectly capable of handling everything that gets thrown at me." '_Which usually happens to be a lot.'_ she added mentally.

"I know you are, but it doesn't mean I don't worry." He told her softly.

She stole a side glance at him but kept her gaze off his eyes. Something told her not to look into them. She was afraid of what might be there. She knew from experience how quickly she could drown in those dark chocolate pools.

"Why isn't anyone noticing your wings?" The question popped out to keep her mind off other things, like his lips. She had though it odd no one passing him stopped to comment on his large feathery wings. LA may be a weird city, but people usually noticed obvious stuff like a guy standing in the park with a 6 foot wingspan.

"They aren't of this world, mortals can't perceive them. Most don't even notice me." He took advantage of being able to actually speak with her, even it the question was a dodge.

"No one sees you?" She asked, looking around at the people around them and wondering if it looked like she was talking to herself.

"Angel's are dim to this world. Mortals acknowledge us enough to avoid walking into us, but never really become fully perceived. We go unnoticed." He informed her.

"So how come I see them? Because I'm the slayer?" She questioned, wondering why she was special.

"No, you only see them because I gave you the sight." He answered.

Her brow furrowed a moment in confusion over when that would have taken place…then she thought back to when she first encountered him in the alley, he'd kissed her eyes.

"Does this 'Sight' go away, or so you have to keep refilling it?" She blurted, wondering if he'd have to keep kissing her eyes on a monthy basis or something.

He grinned a little at the image, "No, it's a one shot deal. Good or bad, your eyes will be able to perceive all beings from my plane that come to Earth."

"Or bad?" She shot back, wondering what that meant.

His eyes darkened a little. "Not everything from my world is…easy on the eyes."

She could have sworn he shuttered a little.

"Ok, great. Well as fun as this has been, I'm running late." She turned and headed the opposite direction.

"Late for what?" He asked, interest peaked.

"Dancing, drinking, dinning out…the triple D's." She said with a smile, "You know, fun things, the kind you shy away from."

"I do not." He shot back, even if he knew it was pretty much truth.

"So what, now you want to come along?" She challenged.

…..

Buffy stole a quick glance across the table at Angel, still searching her mind for a rational and sane reason for this to be happening. She'd planned to meet Willow and Xander here, and mentioned it to him purely as a means of escaping from those deep alluring brown eyes that she really needed to stop thinking about. Actually having him accompany her had certainly not been her first intention. In fact, she'd pretty much banked on the idea he'd make up some reason that angel's couldn't as a rule enter a nightclub and flutter off before she could pretend to feel apologetic for asking.

Apparently he hadn't caught on she was trying to ditch him.

"There's Willow." He spoke from across the table, almost making her jump. Quickly turning her head she saw no one recognizable, then a moment later the witch's bright red hair came into sight, closely followed by Xander, unmistakable in his eye-patch.

She waved them down and after a few minutes of them navigating the close knit bodies, she was wrapping her arms around her best friends again in a happy little reunion.

Once all the 'hello' and 'how are you' had been said, they settled into the chairs at the table and picked up on small talk.

Buffy had nearly forgotten Angel was there when Willow looked past her where he sat across the table and nearly jumped off her chair in shock. She was about to start rapidly pouring his name from her lips before she sealed her mouth tight, remembering how his name even mentioned had made her best-friend cry every time it had been spoken over the last few months.

Xander looked around alarmed at Willow's expression, the fact he looked right though Angel and didn't react made her think she was just imagine him, or perhaps as a witch she was seeing something like a ghost or a magical construct?

"Willow? What's wrong?" Buffy asked, and then noticed where her gaze was focused. "Oh, so you can see him too?"

Willow's head whirled around to face Buffy, "Too? As in you know Angel is sitting right there and failed to mention it?"

The blond shrugged, "Was kinda hoping I was crazy. Guess that's off the menu."

Xander looked between the two a moment, hearing the conversation but confused at all hell. "Umm, would someone like to explain, cus I'm feeling like the time in History when the professor was talk about something I slept though."

Buffy pointed, and rather non-descript addressed, "Angel is sitting in the chair beside you."

Xander raised his eyebrow and looked at the empty chair; at least it had been a moment ago. For a second he thought his eye was playing tricks on him, but suddenly he blinked saw who they were looking at.

"Whoa!" Xander yelped and jumped back, as if he'd just discovered a snake in the chair beside him.

Angel was frowning at them, obviously not feeling welcomed by the lack of positive feedback.

Both Willow and Xander bombarded Buffy with questions, but she ignored most of them to direct one to Angel. "I thought you said no one could see you? They do."

"I said I was dim, unnoticed to most people, not invisible. Willow's sight is greater than most being a witch, and once pointed out, people _can_ notice me. Usually I fade back out, but being adapt to the supernatural, it's unlikely for them."

"Buff? What the hell is that?" Xander snapped. Turning towards Angel his eye narrowed, "Don't come any closer, whatever the hell you are."

"You…you're really Angel? Aren't you?" Willow asked, sensing his aura, feeling it was familiar.

He nodded, slightly smirking, "In more ways than one." Neither Willow nor Xander could see his wings, only his mortal appearance.

Rolling her eyes, Buffy grumbled, "If you mean he's a dead guy stalking me, vanishing and reappearing at random moments and being annoyingly cryptic, then yup, he's the very same."

Hurt flashed across Angel's eyes before it disappeared behind a stony front. "Alright, I get the point. Sorry I bothered you." With that said he rose and quickly vanished into the crowd, leaving the three left around the table blinking.

Willow and Xander turned to Buffy and demanded and explanation. Feeling she really needed to unload all that had happened over the last few days, she relaxed now that he wasn't hovering near her and told them everything.

...

"Oh, how romantic, he came back from Heaven for you!" Willow practically bubbled after Buffy's story, but then her smiled faded and turned focused, "So why are you being so mean to him? He's just trying to do his job and help you."

"I don't need his help." Buffy snapped, still incredibly annoyed at the idea. She didn't want to be a job.

"But you could still just spend time with him." Willow countered.

"Yeah, that usually turns out so well." Xander jabbed, always reserving a special hate for the now former vampire.

"Xander!" Willow scolded, then tried a different tactic. "Get me a club soda please and thank you."

The one eyed man glanced over at the bar and cringed at the number of people surrounding it.

"But Will, there's like a hundred people…" He whined.

She glared her resolve face.

He sighed, "Anything for you Buff?" He offered to the blond. When she shook her head no, he grumbled, "One club soda coming right up" and wandered off towards the bar.

As soon as he was gone, Willow turned back to Buffy. "What's wrong? I thought you wanted to be with Angel? I mean, not to be blunt, but you've been mourning him for months, now suddenly he's back and you can be together and you don't want to? Why not? Did something happen? Is he different now?"

Buffy shook her head, "It is different, he died!" She exasperated. "And he's not just back, I'm some kind of mission now, and he's all popping in and out and I can't take that Will….I can't…"

"You can't lose him again." She supplied.

"No, that's not...I just…" The blond countered but lost her drive, "I don't know. Probably."

Willow gave her a sad smile, "Buffy, he's the love of your life…you two never got a chance before and now maybe you can."

"How do you know? I mean he's still an angel, technically dead and not really even a part of this world."

Willow upraised a red eyebrow and looked at her, "And since when was that ever an issue for you?"

"He's not just here to hang out with me or date me, he's supposed to protect me, be my guardian…"

"Still not seeing a difference here." Willow grinned.

"No one said we_ could_ be together…what…what if we can't? He and I don't work well like that, it's…it's too hard." Buffy flustered, working herself up.

"Have you talked to him about it?"

Buffy shot her an almost scandalous look, "No! Nor will the subject ever be broached."

"Why? Because you think he'll say no?" The redhead ventured.

"No, because I think he'll say yes. I can't deal with that right now…" Buffy admitted.

She really couldn't let her heart be broken by him again.

…..

Dancing and happiness hadn't occurred after her chat with Willow. Feeling like her brain was on fire; Buffy called it a night and headed home.

Angel didn't reappear that night.

Nor the next.

After how she'd treated him, she really didn't blame him.

She just wasn't sure it she was glad, or disappointed.

After pacing restlessly in her house for a good part of the day, Buffy grabbed her purse and headed out for a walk.

...

A stroll downtown seemed like a good idea at the time.

Watch the bustle of people moving about, to let her see life as usual playing on.

Feel the warm sun on her face, the lightly breezy air in her hair. Southern California at it's best.

It didn't help, in fact, it made her feel even more alone.

She sighed and stuffed her hands into her jean pockets, trudging absently off the sidewalk and following the crowd across the street.

Suddenly she paused and looked around, actually seeing where she was for the first time.

The very spot Angel had died.

She hadn't notice the crosswalk sign turn to 'Don't walk' or the light changing to green.

"Trust me, bad place to stand." Someone said as they grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the street before a horn blaring car could angrily drive over her for standing in the middle of the road.

"You would know." She didn't need to turn around to know it was Angel that grabbed her arm.

She forgotten he wasn't a vampire, sunlight was not an issue for an angel.

"So, are you trying to get yourself killed or did you just want to talk to me?" Anger was clear in his tone.

"Neither." Buffy shot back, pulling her arm from his grip.

When she turned, she could clearly see worry flashing in his deep brown eyes, his tone tight out of concern for her. "Buffy, you're been too reckless lately. I understand you were grieving but let's be frank a moment, you need to stop morning a guy who's standing right in front of you."

Her eyes watered at the thought, remembering seeing him lying in the road, broken, dying. "You left me alone." She whispered.

"You're not alone anymore." He assured, pulling her against him and into a more secluded part of the sidewalk.

The emotions she'd had bottled for half a year suddenly broke open, flooding her with everything she'd kept locked away.

Her legs weakened as her arms wrapped tightly around him, tight enough to crushing a human, and wouldn't let go. Sobs threatened to choke her as she cried into his chest.

All the pain and loss from the last six months was hitting her all over again.

"Shh, it's ok Buffy, I'm right here." He soothed, holding her tight and letting her unload as he rubbed her back and whispered soothing words into her ear. "I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

She felt her hair blowing in the wind but didn't pull back from him to find out why. Not long later she felt her mattress pressing against her back as he laid her down in her bed.

"No." She cried when she felt him pulling away. She didn't want to stop touching him, couldn't.

"I'm still here." He soothed, "Just taking off my coat." A moment later she felt him slip into bed beside her.

In an instant she wrapped herself around him and let her eyes slip shut.

"Just rest Buffy." She heard him say, feeling his fingers brush down her hair and her back. "I'm not going anywhere."

And for the first time in six months, she slept a deep and dreamless sleep.

…..

To Be Continued?

...

Anyone like it? Hate it?


	3. Starting Over

I know, I know, I don't update regularly. I suck...happy? I do work on my stories though, I promise. Especially when reviews come in and I get extra motivation. ;)

* * *

Buffy didn't want to open her eyes. She was too comfy at the moment to allow for reality to barge in and steal away her happy place.

She felt like this was the first restful sleep she'd had in months, and wasn't too interested into looking into the how and why.

When her pillow moved slightly, she realized she wasn't alone.

She shot up, ready to pummel whoever was in her room with her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." An apologetic Angel said quietly at seeing her reaction. He was sitting against the headboard, long legs extended out and crossed at the ankles, a book laying now idle in his left hand.

Buffy stared at him a moment, trying to remember how the hell he got into her house, let alone her bed.

"How did I get in here?" She asked, last remembering standing on the sidewalk in downtown.

"I flew us." He replied lightly.

"Flew?" She repeated, trying to remember when the hell that happened.

"You had a bit of a...ahh...breakdown?...so I brought you back here. You were really tired and didn't want to let go, so I stayed." He answered her questioning eyes, a mix of guilt and worry on his face.

"Oh." She muttered, feeling completely embarrassed. '_Ok, great. Nervous breakdown and I slept on him...'_

Her downcast eyes ran over his shirt and focused on a wet spot where her mouth had been a few seconds before. '_Oh god, I drooled on him too...'_

He followed her eyes to his shirt when her cheeks suddenly brightened even deeper red.

He almost laughed in amusement but kept his composure, "It'll dry." He assured to her he wasn't upset about it.

Trying to control the burn in her cheeks, "Umm, I have to pee." She muttered quickly and escaped off the bed and hurried into the bathroom. She shut the door behind her and leaned against it, her heart pounding as it she'd just fought off an army.

'_Get a grip Buffy, you only slept _**_on _**_him, not _**_with _**_him. You are both fully clothed and nothing besides sleep occurred.'_ she lectured to herself as she moved away from the door to splash cold water on her face.

She looked at herself in the mirror for a few moments, noticing the bags under her eyes weren't quiet as startling as they were yesterday.

After the fastest shower of her life, she toweled dry and slipped her clothes back on, not wanting to go back into her room only wearing a towel if he was there.

Except he wasn't.

_'Big surprise there.'_

Disappointment flashed on her face as she looked at the now empty bed. Part of her thought he would have at least said goodbye first.

Shoulders slumping but also feeling slightly relieved from the awkwardness that would have continued, she dressed in clean clothes and headed downstairs to find coffee, lots and lots of coffee.

She hadn't expected it to be sitting on the counter waiting for her.

Buffy eyed the paper cup suspiciously, wondering how it had happened to find itself in her house and on her counter.

"I wasn't sure how you took it." Angel's voice spoke from behind her, "so I had them leave it black with cream and sugar on the side."

Buffy wasn't as startled as she'd though she'd be when he just 'appeared' again. Part of her had figured he was the one who left beverage, she just hadn't counted on him still being around. He did have a pretty long 'bailing on her' record.

"You would have known if you'd actually taken me for one of those coffee dates." She countered quickly, a little scorned from all those lost dates he'd promised her but never seemed to have happened for one reason or another.

At the guilty and hurt expression flashing across his face, she realized what she'd said and quickly amended, "I'm sorry, you've been nothing but nice to me lately and I've just been a bitch to you. It's not that I don't want you here, It's just...I didn't expect you to be. I figured you had some, I don't know, angel-y stuff to do."

He look down at the floor, know his track record with her was pretty sparse. "You're not being a bitch, Buffy. You have every right to question me. I'm not expecting you to just accept me back into your life like nothing happened, I just...I want to see you." After a moment he added, "And if you don't want to see me, I'll understand."

"It's not that I don't want you around, I'm...I'm just not really used to the idea yet." She took the cup and added her cream and sugar, taking a sip or two to adjust the flavor before she slid the lid back on and turned to face him. "You died Angel, and now...suddenly you're back again."

He nodded, understanding how she must be feeling. Although he hadn't loved Darla, seeing her resurrected had really thrown him for a loop too. "Just say the word and I'll go." He told her honestly, letting her make the choice for once.

She looked down at her coffee again, swirling the dark liquid around in her hands, instead of asking him to leave or directly telling him to stay, she asked, "I don't suppose you know anything about cooking breakfast?"

Taking the offer to stay, he smiled that classic half smile of his, "I've been told I make a mean omelette."

"Really?" She jabbed back, "Now this I've got to see."

...

He made her breakfast like he used to do for Cordelia and Wesley in the past, their conversation light and pleasant as he cooked and she eagerly ate.

Finally Buffy had to ask, "Where did you learn to cook? I mean, you don't eat food. So how did you learn to prepare it?"

He shrugged a little, his wings fluttered slightly with the movement, something she was defiantly not used to seeing yet. "I got stuck in this abandoned house one morning, the sun came up faster than I was expecting, being woefully drunk hadn't helped, and all there was to read when I sobered up were cookbooks. I took a passing curiosity to it after that, I even worked a little as a fry cook back in the 60's, it was a night job and it paid my rent." After a quiet moment he added, "I picked the hobby up again for Cordy and Wes."

"That was sweet of you." She said, smiling at the image of a vampire cooking breakfast for his friends instead of going to bed after a long night.

He grinned a little and shook his head, "Not really, in the early days of Angel Investigations it was their only real form of payment. I was too broke to cut them a check."

Rolling her eyes she muttered, "Gee, go on and ruin the nice image why don't you."

He'd flashed a smirk and began talking about some of the funnier cases they'd had, but soon tapered off when he noticed Buffy was staring at him with a dazed expression on her face. "Buffy? Did I say something wrong?" He asked, nervous he'd said something to upset her.

She'd been following right along with his story until the clouds broke in the morning sky outside, flooding her little apartment with bright, warm sunlight. Her eyes immediately caught the wonder in it, seeing Angel bathed in sunlight. She'd seen him in the sun yesterday, but hadn't been in the right mindset to truly appreciate the rich almost golden color the light reflected off his skin, or the red highlights the sun revealed in his dark hair, or the soft warm glow in those feathered wings.

She blinked a moment then shook her head, catching herself zoning off into fantasy land. She was thankful she hadn't started to drool.

"What?" She muttered when she processed he'd called her name again and asked if she was ok. "No...Yes, I...I'm sorry I was staring, I just...the sun came out from behind the clouds and...I've never really see you in the light before...I guess I got a little...distracted." She finished with reddening cheeks.

His worry disappeared and he flashed her a grin, "That's a relief, for a moment there I though maybe I'd poisoned you on accident."

Buffy shook her head and willed away her embarrassment, "No, breakfast was amazing, I might even have to hit you up for lunch and dinner."

"Anytime you like." He assured her.

"Just so you know, I'm totally going to take you up on that offer." She teased back, already looking forward to having someone to cook for her.

Since her mother died, mornings usually consisted of cold cereal, lunch was whatever was fastest, and dinner was always in box form. Being a slayer often meant a TV dinner at night due to nothing being open by the time patrolling was over and being too tired to cook anything better by the time she got back home, and that was only if she even got the time to eat any meals. The Apocalypse never paused so she could grab a sandwich.

After a few moments, she let the enthusiastic 'sunlight Angel' dreams fade from her mind and floated back down to RealityVille. "I'm not keeping you am I, I mean you must have actual stuff to do besides cook me meals?"

Surely the powers hadn't sent Angel back to Earth just to hang around with his ex.

He met her eyes then, studying their reaction as he spoke, "I'm right where I'm supposed to be."

As much as the statement warmed her heart, it made her mad as hell too. "Supposed to be?" She questioned, "As in, have to be?"

He'd expected the turn around, knowing Buffy hated rules or anything pertaining to destiny/prophesy/omens or other such related pre-destined mantra. She'd proven on multiple occasions that she didn't take orders from anyone and didn't care what The Fates pre-ordained, she made her own future.

"No Buffy, I don't _**have**_ to be here with you. I do have free will, even as an angel. Yes, I was sent here to be your guardian, so by default being with you does extend to my job, but that isn't why I want to be here."

"Why do you want to be here?" She questioned, needing to hear him say it.

He smiled at her, "Like I said, I just want to see you."

"Only see me?" she asked quietly, wondering how deep that statement went.

He chuckled slightly, "For now." He left the potential meaning open.

She nodded, "Ok, well you've seen me. Now what?"

He leaned against the counter across from her, more laid back and carefree looking then she'd ever remembered him looking. "That's entirely up to you."

_'Ok, so he's sticking to the good old fashioned, 'vague reply''_ She thought to herself slightly annoyed.

"Well what do you want to do?" She questioned, having no idea what an angel liked to do on their free time.

He shrugged, making his wings flutter slightly, "To be honest, I don't know. My daytime activity planning is pretty non-existent."

She had to give him that. He'd been a vampire for over 250 years, bursting into flames the second your skin came into contact with the sun had pretty much made all activities for him nocturnal ones. Not to mention he had only been human a few days before his death, not really giving him time to explore the whole new sunlit world.

"Right." She muttered, "Being on fire isn't exactly the top of the fun menu..."

"Not so much, no." He agreed from actual experience.

"So does that mean you've never been to the beach during the day?" She asked, figuring since they were in LA, the beach was right there.

"Not enough to enjoy it." He replied, thinking briefly of the day he turned human, for the first time. The day the Morah's blood mixed with his. It's true he'd found Buffy at the pier, but his attention hadn't been focus on the waves and sand at the time.

A smile washed over her face, "Good, that's settled. Beach it is." She jumped off her chair and headed towards the stairs, "I'm going to change."

"You know I don't actually own a bathing suit." He added with a smirk.

She tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked back at him, "No excuses, Mr. 'I don't know, you pick'. I picked the beach. Learn to deal." With that said she vanished up the stairs.

He couldn't help but grin.

When she came back own a few minutes later, she wore a sunny yellow summery dress with flip-flops and carried a large beach bag on her shoulder, jammed full with towels and sunblock and other beach-y needs. Her long blond hair was secured in a loose ponytail on top of her head, complete with over sized sunglasses.

A goddess if he ever saw one.

He observed her silently as she pulled water and snacks from the kitchen and stuffed them into her bag, he wasn't used to seeing her in such casual clothes. More often then not, he'd seen her in her school attire or patrolling outfits. Beachwear was a new addition for him.

The last dress he'd seen her in was her light pink prom gown, the thought of her looking so beautiful and stunning made him smile...the realization it had been the only time he'd seen her dressed up stole a bit of that joy.

"You're not having second thoughts are you?" Buffy asked when she saw him frown slightly.

He looked up at her, "No, no I...I was just thinking."

"What about?" She pried, curious what was going on behind those dark eyes of his.

He looked almost sheepish a moment before he met her eyes again, "About how beautiful you look in a dress." He stated shyly.

She stalled out of how to reply a moment, a little taken aback. In defense she retorted with, "And that makes you frown, boy there's some quality self-esteem building."

He sighed, his wings and shoulders sloughing. "That's not why I frowned, Buffy."

"Then why?" She inquired, a little defensive.

He took an unneeded breath and told her truthfully, "Because of how long it's been since I've seen you in a dress."

"Oh." She muttered, then shrugged it off, "Well it's not like I can patrol in one."

"Well, you could..." He started, but added in his head, '_It would make watching you fight that much more enjoyable._'

"Don't even go there." She warned, already seeing the smirk on his lips.

He looked back at her with an innocent expression, all that was missing was the halo.

"Out." She ordered, grabbing her keys off the table and shushing him out the door.

...

They walked to the beach, since she walked everywhere. Small talk drifted between them, simple and casual.

As they grew closer to the beach, the number of people was already increasing, eager beachies already gathering for yet another day of sun and surf.

Southern California at its best.

Finding a less busy area, she guided them to a patch of sand off to the side and she pulled her towels from her sack, handing one to him as she spread hers out on the warm sand.

Flopping down, she watched with mild amusement as he awkwardly sat on his towel, obviously not too familiar with the comfort of sand and sun.

"Maybe we should have stopped at the store and bought you some sunglasses and a bathing suit." She commented as she looked over at his long black pants, black shoes and light purple short sleeve button down shirt. "You're kinda sticking out like a sore thumb."

"It's a good thing people wont notice me then." He replied, turning his face up towards the bright morning sun and closing his eyes.

"Oh, right." She'd forgotten he was 'dim', not noticeable to people unless he tried to be. "So does that mean it looks like I'm sitting alone?" She asked with curiosity.

He shook his head and looked back over at her, "Not really, it's kind of hard to explain. It's...people know we're here, they're just not _aware_ they know we're here." He tried to make sense of it.

"Trippe." Buffy muttered as she pulled a water from her bag. "I don't suppose you want one?" She offered.

He shook his head.

"So, still not big on the eating and drinking." She stated, having noticed he hadn't sampled any of the breakfast he'd cooked her, nor attempted to eat or drink anything in her presence yet. She shoved the second water back into her bag and took a sip of her own bottle.

He looked down, "No, not so much. As a technicality, I'm still dead. Not to mention I don't even really exist on this plane. I could physically sip and chew, it just wouldn't do anything for me."

"What do you mean you don't exist here?" She asked, confused. "You felt solid enough." Buffy knew for a fact from sleeping on him.

He smiled, "Yeah, I have a physical form here, it's kind of a requirement for a guardian to be able to interact with mortal beings. I wouldn't be much use to you if my fist passed though demons. What I mean is this isn't where I get my energy, this isn't my home world anymore."

A sad look washed over her face, "Do you miss home?"

He shook his head and look up towards the sky, "I see it everyday."

She studied him then, noticed how in the sun he was growing more relaxed, his wings unfurrowed from his back and where half open, turned towards the light as he leaned back slightly, a soft smile exposed on his lips as he basked in the glowing sunshine.

_'Wow, he looks amazing in the light._' She thought again for the second time that day, smiling to herself at how beautiful that man was. _'And there goes my mind towards that 'do not enter' one way street I'm supposed to be keeping clear of…'_

She quickly turned her eyes off his face, needing to focus on something else; she looked over at his wings, still fascinated with the new feathery appendages. Her blond right eye brow quirked up as she noticed how they seemed to not be sitting so much **on** the sand, but disappearing **under** it.

"Umm, Angel?" She asked, a little freaked, "Your wings! They're…umm…vanishing?"

He opened his eyes and cast a curious expression towards her. "They're what?" He asked, flaring them out so he could turn and see what she was referring to.

As they rose from the sand, Buffy could see they were still complete and entirely undamaged, not cut in half as they looked a moment ago.

"Oh, I umm…they looked funny…like the sand was eating them." She tried to explain what she'd seen.

He seemed to understand and nodded his head, "My wings are different than my body, they have no substance on this plane, when on Earth they're essentially holograms to everything but me."

"Oh." Buffy muttered, a little mystified. After a second of thinking it over she added, "Is that why you don't have holes in your shirt for the wings?"

He laughed a bit, "Yeah, it does make getting dressed a bit easier." Having to struggle with solid wings every time he wanted to change his shirt made him shutter.

They broke into another casual conversation after, just basking in the sun and people watching as they spoke and enjoyed the lazy morning.

As the afternoon rolled out, they went for a stroll down the beach, keeping up their comfortable dialog as they walked.

On a few occasions, Buffy found her hand itching to hold his, so she picked up a few random shells just to keep them full and occupied. '_Handholding…the gateway drug to crash and burn relationships everywhere.'_

Angel pretended not to notice when Buffy's hand had brushed against his and how quickly she had pulled it back, making sure it didn't happen again by picked up a shell. He figured she felt it was far too early for them to try and renew the relationship they'd once shared and resolved himself to keeping his distance until she was ready. He had no intentions of rushing things again between them or acting on the feelings he still felt for her until she made it clear that was what she wanted, and only** if** it was what she wanted.

...

Buffy was actually surprised when dusk was approaching and Angel was still hanging around.

In the past, they hadn't really gotten to spend more than a few hours together before sunrise or school or some other event popped up between them. Because of that, it felt a little weird to her to see him so much in one day. Like she was seeing him out of context.

As they walked back from the beach, her whole body felt glowly. She had a feeling her company had contributed more to that glowy feeling than the actual hours of sun exposure.

"What are you thinking?" she asked, trying to read his concentrated expression.

He smirked when he turned to look at her, "That I'll be pulling sand out of my wings for the next week." To illiterate, they flapped a little as if trying to scratch an itch.

She grinned back at him, amused at the thought. "Hey, wait." She came back immediately with, "I thought you said they were basically holograms. How could they get sand stuck in them?"

He shook his head, "That's what I'd love to know."

As she ascended the stairs to her front porch, she turned to face him while he was still on the bottom stair, giving her a more face to face stance than she usually had with the much taller man. "So, does Buffy get a hand cooked dinner tonight? Or is it back to frozen and from a box?"

His lips quirked back, revealing that classic smirk of his she found herself melting over. "Depends."

"Depends on what?" she asked, a play of a smile on her lips.

"Depends on if you want to cash in all your meal vouchers in one day or not." He teased back.

"Hey, I still have a lunch pending." She reminded him. "You don't get take-backs."

A soft laugh escaped his lips, "Wouldn't dream of it."

"So, dinner?" She asked again, feeling hunger roaring back to life. Breakfast had held her long into the afternoon, where snacks and ample junk food from her bag had kept her content, but it was back with a vengeance now.

"What will I be making?" He asked as she unlocked the door and ushered him inside.

"Oh, umm…I don't know. How good are you at improve dinner-making?" Grocery shopping had slipped her mind the last few months, with all the moping and lack of apatite.

He smirked and headed into the kitchen, "Guess we'll find out."

…

She was pretty impressed when he'd managed to turn a frozen chicken breast and a jar of salsa into a mighty tasty Salsa stuffed chicken dinner.

While he cooked, she'd taken the time to shower off the sand and salt from their day at the beach, enjoying the cool water on her still tingly skin. '_Hello soon to be sunburn'_ she groaned to herself, glad her accelerated healing would make it vanish in a day or less.

After dinner, she'd changed into her patrolling clothes and met him in the living room.

"Shall we?" She asked, having informed him he would be accompanying her for patrol while she'd scoffed down her dinner.

He'd simply agreed, saying he wouldn't have it any other way. She hadn't been sure if he meant since he was supposed to be her Guardian or if he just liked going out and punching demons.

Either way he was coming with her, that alone gave her a happy.

"We shall." He responded, catching the stake she'd tossed him and slipping it into his leather coat.

…

Despite only finding three vamps in the whole city to dust, Buffy was surprisingly glad about patrol. Had she been alone, she was sure boredom would have slain her before the vamps could have, but since she'd practically spent the whole night just talking with Angel, she found she'd enjoyed the lack of annoying demonic distraction.

When they finally made it back to her house around 4am, she was almost giddy despite the time of night.

She walked up her steps but noticed immediately he wasn't following her. She turned, "You're not coming in?" She asked, a little hurt.

He shook his head, "What would your neighbors think?" He teased with a grin. "Besides, what kind of gentleman would I be?"

"Like they would even see you." She fired back and matched his grin, since for the most part her neighbors wouldn't even notice him if they did look out the window. "And yeah, I guess you have a point." She understood he was keeping things friendly between them, inviting him in for the night was defiantly moving outside of the friend-zone.

After chewing her lip a moment she asked, "Will I see you tomorrow?"

He met her eyes easily, his lips turning up into that wonderful smile of his, "I do still owe you a lunch."

Running the numbers in her head, she figured by the time she actually got up tomorrow and got ready, it would be at least 11am. "Ok, 11am sharp. I'm looking forward to it already."

She almost though of kissing him goodnight, but he was already backing up down the stairs, "Me too." He replied before his wings unfolded and swept him up into the night sky and out of sight.

She closed her door and leaned against it, a smile on her lips.

Soon after when she was settling under her sheets for the night, she found sleep came easily.

…

As promised, he was knocking on her door at exactly 11am, his arms weighted down with two large paper bags stuffed with groceries.

"What's all this?" She asked as she opened the door for him, eyeing the bags.

"I've been in your cabinets, if you expect anything even remotely edible from me today, you're going to need a refill." He explained, bringing the food into her kitchen.

"Right." She agreed, "Food shopping moved to priority number 1."

She helped un-bag and restock her sparse cabinets as he started lunch.

"So" She probed as he was slicing cucumber for a salad, "any plans after lunch?"

"Did you have something in mind?" He inquired, already reading she did from the shimmering gleam in her eyes.

"I was just thinking...there's a movie playing I'd been wanting to see..." She asked a little shyly, fishing for his reaction.

He scoped up the slices and added them to the bowl with the rest of the salad items. "Movie huh?" He questioned with a grin. "It's not like the last one we saw is it?"

Her cheeks flushed red, remembering the extremely dicey indie movie they'd seen at Sunnydale's 'Sun Cinema' all those years ago. That hadn't been too good for their already struggling hormones.

"No, defiantly not. Nice and safe action flick." She informed him.

"Sounds perfect." He agreed.

* * *

Buffy was defiantly getting used to this.

She couldn't believe it had already been a month since Angel reappeared in her life again.

Over the last few weeks, she'd see him almost daily, sometimes more. He always accompanied her on patrols at night, often following him cooking her dinner.

Daylight hours were spent at the beach or they'd have coffee, go see a movie, or any other random excuse to spend time with him. She was feeling like a normal woman again, going on normal dates and spending quality time with her boyfriend.

'_Oh god, I'm actually thinking of __Angel__ as my boyfriend again._'

The idea had caught her by surprise, since neither had brought up the actual subject of dating. She caught herself on many occasions almost kissing him, but she had no idea the cosmic ramifications of _that_ would be. She was pretty sure The Powers would frown upon having a physical relationship with your guardian angel.

Which was a huge chunk of the bitter in this new bitter-sweet arrangement they'd had this last month.

She was elated to be able to spend so much time with him without world-ending consequences hanging over her head, but having to keep her distance was getting harder by the second.

She felt comfortable with Angel again, was even beginning to think he'd hang around for awhile. '_I shouldn't think that_.' She mentally scolded herself, _"I'll just end up cursing us somehow, or he'd be re-called back to the higher realm._'

Part of her was still afraid to let him back into her heart fully, it always was when she least expected it that fate poked it's ugly finger into her life and mixed up all her nicely arranged pieces.

...

Buffy was toying with the idea of going to see a movie with Angel to kill the time before her dinner with Willow and Xander that night, but for the life of her couldn't find a decent action or drama in the theater booklet she was paging though.

Anything with romance was automatically off the menu.

"Hey." He greeted, slipping up beside her as she wandered down the sunny street.

"Hey." She greeted back, not really sure what to say.

He noticed the movie flyer and asked, "Anything good?"

Sighing she shook her head, "No, not really."

He though a moment, "Have you ever seen King Kong?"

She paused and looked up at him, "Don't think that one's playing."

Chuckling he lightly he offered, "We could rent it."

Her face scrunched a little like she tasted something stale, "Wasn't that filmed like, a hundred years ago?"

He shook his head, "No, 1933."

"Like I said." She shot back, not at all interesting in a black and white movie filmed before her grandmother was born. "Wait, didn't they remake that?" She asked, wondering if there was a newer, in-color, with sound, upgraded version with better graphics.

He cringed, "Trust me, the remakes are never as good as the originals."

"I don't know, remakes can be good." She commented with a hidden smirk he missed, checking out his wings.

"You'll like it, I promise." He tried again, a little eager to get Buffy into some of the classic films. He liked the ones they'd seen recently (sort of), but nothing beat the now classic movies he'd experienced in the old days.

Seeing the eagerness in his eyes, she relented. "Fine, but you're making me at least a pound of popcorn."

...

Under an hour later, they were flopping down on the couch with a gigantic bowl of popcorn. "This better be good." She warned at seeing the black and white film flick up onto her TV.

"It will be." He promised again.

He got caught up watching the movie, so much in fact he hadn't noticed Buffy nod off until she flopped over deeply asleep against him.

The frown spurred from his lips at her complete lack of interest withered quickly as his body immediately acknowledged how good it felt to have her snuggling up to him.

He looked down at her, contemplating waking her, but found he couldn't bring himself to move.

Figuring if she was tired enough to fall asleep in the fist twenty minutes of the movie, she could probably use the nap.

His arm itched to wrap around her shoulder, but he kept the limb where it was, keeping in mind his vow to keep this an platonic as she wanted.

In her sleep, Buffy shifted and buried her face deep against his chest, unconsciously drawn to the cool silence under her ear.

When the movie ended and Buffy was still asleep, he fiddled with the remote until the TV switched back to cable.

Sleepily Buffy's eyes slid open, her blurry gaze finding the TV. Through the haze of wakefulness she mumbled, "I though King Kong was about a Gorilla?"

Angel looked down at her, questioningly, "It is."

"Then why are The Three Stooges there?" she asked back, recognizing Moe, Larry and Curly from the numerous times Xander had either made her watch them or from his large collection of memorabilia.

He chuckled, "The movie ended almost two hours ago." She _felt_ him reply from awfully close by.

Finally she realized she wasn't snuggled up to the couch pillows as she'd though, but Angel's chest.

"Oh." She yelped a little, jumping back with flashing red cheeks. She got up quickly, almost knocking the nearly full popcorn bowl off the couch. "Sorry, I...why didn't you wake me up?" She countered, a little mad he'd let her sleep on him...again.

At least this time she didn't see a drool spot.

He shrugged, "You're always saying you wish you had more time to nap."

"Ok, point taken." She admitted, truthfully feeling more refreshed.

That didn't change the fact she was mad as hell at herself for sleeping on his again. '_Bad Buffy, happy platonic relationship do not involve cuddling.'_

"Do you want me to go?" He asked, feeling maybe he'd made a mistake in letting her sleep so long.

She caught the hurt in his eyes but decided not to correct it. "You might as well, I'm going to dinner with Willow and Xander soon."

"Oh." He exhaled, a little disappointed he wasn't making her dinner tonight.

She thanked him for the movie and he found himself being herded out.

Getting the point, he left quickly, feeling more than a little rejected.

...

Buffy was walking down the darkening city sidewalk, starting her patrol early after having had dinner with Willow and Xander just to prove to them she still existed.

Her friends had been a little jealous of the vast quantities of time she'd been spending with Angel lately. Willow and Xander were all for their best friend finding happiness again, they just missed hanging out with her as often as they had been before Angel had come back into Buffy's life.

Not wanting to ruin their happiness for her, she'd taped on her smile, played the part of happy Buffy.

She'd kept her warring feeling about Angel to herself.

As she wandered, Buffy couldn't help but let those feelings drift out and mingle in her mind, trying to make sense of them and her current relationship with Angel.

Or more acutely, lack of relationship.

As much as she enjoyed being with him, she didn't want a repeat of Sunnydale. The whole 'no touching' wedge between them after his return from Hell had been torture for both of them.

As much as she hated to admit it, she'd been kind of glad when he'd left. Having to see him everyday and not be able to _be_ with him had been slowly killing her.

She was starting to feel that again.

Especially after what happened today, the feelings that had been drudged up by simply falling asleep against him were crushing her.

...

As the sun was setting and the shadows were vanishing, a breeze swept over her.

"Hey, you ready to patrol?" Angel asked, eagerly twirling a stake on his fingers as he dropped down from the blackening sky above, his wings folding back up behind him.

Buffy watched him a moment, emotions twisted painfully at the look of confusion reflecting on his face upon seeing her frown. "No Angel, I...I don't think this is going to work anymore."

"What isn't?" He asked, not understanding her hesitation. "Patrolling?"

She shook her head, finally understanding how Angel must have felt that night in the sewer when he broke up with her. She finally realized how much that must have hurt him because now she was feeling that pain.

"I can't see you anymore." She forced her mouth to say, even as her heart screamed to shut up.

He looked back at her, his face betraying the shock and hurt he felt. "What? Why? Buffy have I done something..."

"No." She said quickly, not wanting to hurt him anymore than she had to. "You did nothing wrong, it's me. I can't...I can't do this. I thought I could but I see you everyday and we talk and we have fun…but that's not what I want from you..." Tears were in her eyes now, her heart squeezing in her chest.

He watched her intently, his own silent heart twisting, waiting to hear what it was she wanted.

"I...I thought we could be friends, but I should have known we...we can't be _just_ friends."

When he heard her words, his heart flooded relief. He'd though she was rejecting him because of his status as an angel, or just because she wasn't enjoying spending time with him as much as he'd been with her.

Her reserved and sheltered responses over the last month suddenly made a whole lot more sense to him. She wasn't pulling away because she wasn't ready or willing to have a relationship with him, she just hadn't known they _could_ have a relationship.

If the problem was simply she wanted more than friendship, that was something he could easily fix.

She could barely see now though the wall of tears in her eyes, so much in fact, she didn't know he'd moved forward until she felt his hand on her cheek.

In the next instant, his mouth was covering over hers, and her world exploded.

Even if it shocked her, Buffy didn't pull away when Angel kissed her. In fact, she pushed closer, greedily kissing back and basking in the subtle warmth of his lips pressing against hers, her legs might have buckled from the sheer pleasure in it had her arms not grasped his shoulders and had his arms not twined around her waist to pull her in closer.

She lost all track of time as she lost herself in his kiss, the old passion flaring up dangerously as the sparks of love and lust ignited in her.

It felt like forever when he finally pulled away, even while her lungs were screaming for air it took a moment before she let his lips go.

As she pulled much needed air into her lungs, she rested her head against the hard wall of his chest, refusing to look up and meet his eyes. She couldn't face him yet, couldn't hear the word 'good-bye' after all those feelings she'd kept buried inside were re-kindled from that or so passionate last kiss.

Not to mention she really liked the feel of him so solid against her cheek.

"Buffy?" His voice was soft, almost velvety as it vibrated off his chest, "You do realize I'm not cursed anymore."

She tore her gaze from his sky blue shirt and looked up at him, "But...you're an angel...aren't there like...rules against...you know…dating your Guardian?"

Angel laugh lightly, "Do you really think The Powers would have sent me of all people to be your Guardian if there were?"

Her cheeks reddened from her blush, revealing to him the real reason she'd been overly protective of her feeling towards him over the last month. He'd thought she just wasn't ready to commit herself to a relationship with him again, not knowing that she thought they physically couldn't have a relationship due to his status as an angel.

If he'd known that, he would have said something a month ago.

"Oh" She said sheepishly, looking horribly adorable to him as she blushed, "Well in that case." She threw caution to the wind and let out all the pent-up kisses she'd been suppressing these last few months.

Full out jumping up on him, she twisted her legs in a near death-grip around his waist as her lips zeroed back in on his, her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him ever closer to her.

He kissed back with equal enthusiasm, elated at the sudden turn of events. He'd never stopped loving her and finally he was allowed to release those feelings again.

Or at least some of them.

Suddenly Buffy pulled back, eyes him suspiciously, "Wait, are you saying we could have been doing this the whole time?"

He smiled at her, "Only if that's what you'd wanted."

She sobered a moment, staring into those deep dark eyes of his, from her vantage point she could see directly into them at eye level. Her hand moved from his shoulder and ran lightly down his cheek, tracing the smooth skin from temple to chin.

His eyes closed slightly at the touch, the feel of her skin against his sending his nerves alight with pleasure.

"You're all I've ever wanted." Buffy whispered quietly, almost afraid to admit it to him.

His eyes opened again, reflecting back the same level of love and emotion that hers were emitting.

"I know the feeling." He replied back.

Their lips met again, this time slower, deeper.

They took their time exploring each other's mouth, letting their tongue reacquaint after such a long hiatus.

They savored every touch, every taste, every sensation.

Buffy finally pulled back again to breathe, but even then she refused to move even a millimeter away from him. She rested her forehead against his and gazed into his eyes, getting lost in those chocolate pools.

Movement caught her attention and her eyes slowly drifted from his to watch the white feathered wings flapping steadily behind him, soundlessly creating a soft breeze as they swept the warm air around them.

It was then she realized they were hovering over 300 feet in the air.

"Ack!" She yelped in surprise, suddenly gripping Angel tighter in her startled panic.

As the slayer, there wasn't much she was afraid of, having died several times already made most usual phobias obsolete.

Heights weren't so much a problem for her, even if one of her deaths did involve diving off a skyscraper high tower made by crazy people. It wasn't being up high that was the startling factor, but the fact she was flying.

Looking over the edge of a building down at the ground was very different than looking down at the ground while not attached to anything solid. At least on the building you had a railing and something solid beneath your feet, and if you didn't like to look down, all you had to do was lean back in and the ground vanished from sight.

Not the case while straddling your Angelic boyfriend.

"We're not on the ground." She blurted, tearing her eyes off the very far away and tiny looking ground to looking wide eyed at Angel.

"Hmm?" He asked with lusty glazed over eyes, his mind still soaking in 'Buffy kisses'.

He clearly hadn't even realized his wings were flapping.

"Hello, Earth to Angel?" Buffy exasperated, really not at all eased by the complete lack of awareness in his eyes.

His misty thoughts cleared at the nervous tone in her voice. "Buffy, what's wrong?" He asked worried he'd overstepped his boundaries and done something to upset her.

She looked back at him, almost amused at his cluelessness. "Down please." She stated, pointing to the earth below.

His eyes flicked from her face to the absent ground beneath him.

"Oh." He said sheepishly, finally understanding what got her heart thumping quicker in her chest. "Sorry, I ahh...got distracted." He apologized with a grin on his lips.

"Yeah, sure." She teased back at him, eyes rolling in her head, "I bet you were just hoping to join the mile high club."

"The what?" He asked as he slowly began their decent.

"Never mind." She muttered, holding tighter to him as his wings slowed and they lost altitude.

He grinned and held her closer, "I've got you."

More accurately, she had him. Her legs were still twined around his hips and her arms held his shoulder and around his neck, careful not to hit his beating wings. She turned her attention back to him and smiled, "Yes, you do."

Their lips met again and their decent was paused.

Finally she pulled away, equally needing to breathe and feel the solid ground beneath her feet again. "Ok not kidding this time. Down please." She urged.

He grinned against her neck and folded his wings in, enjoying the feel on her pressing impossibly closer as they nearly free fell downwards.

"Angel!" She yelped, not at all amused. Not to mention kinda terrified.

"You said down." He defended.

"Not falling!" She countered back.

His wings flared out again and caught then, slowly lowering them this time.

"Better." She stated, resting her head under his chin to keep from seeing the ground getting closer.

A few moments later his feet touched down seamlessly.

When she still didn't unlatch from him he grinned, "We're on the ground now."

"Huh? Oh, right." Her cheeks reddened a little as she quickly un-stuck from him and jumped down, silently savoring the feel of the solid ground below her and equally a little sad at the loss of him against her.

"Not a fan of flying?" He asked as they slowly began to walk again, heading out to patrol as originally planned.

"Not outside of a plane." She admitted, unsure how she felt about the experience.

He nodded and walked silently beside her, both lost in their own thoughts for the moment.

"Where are we?" She suddenly asked, looking over at him.

He raised an eyebrow, "Between Forester and Langers." He answered, knowing she knew exactly which streets they were on.

She looked confused a second then explained, "No, not where like that, I meant us. Where are _we_?" She wanted to know what their relationship status was, not their location.

"Oh." He relied, "I umm…I don't know. Where do you want us to be?"

'_Good question_.' She thought to herself.

They had defiantly progressed out of the 'friend zone', but she wasn't sure how far she was willing to go yet. At the start of the night, she was pretty much certain she was breaking up with him, not that they had even really been together in the first place, and then they'd jumped head long into first base, completely skipping all the little courting steps in between.

Once again she found herself riding the emotional roller coaster that was Angel…and actually rather literally earlier…

At her complicated expression, he offered his hand, "We can start with this." He added with a smile.

Smiling back, she took his hand and held it tightly in her own, enjoying the comfort their contact provided.

They walked along hand in hand for a while, taking pleasure in the comfortable silence.

An hour passed before they finally located something that needed an ass kicking.

Several Fyarl Demons were loitering outside of a well known demon bar, what had caught Buffy's attention was the frightened young woman trapped between them.

"Need a hand?" Angel offered as she headed in the bar's direction.

"Nah, I've got this." She assured, quickly crossing the street.

Getting closer, she waited until the demon's noticed her, "Hey guys, I'm going to have to ask you to leave, this is a no loitering zone." She commented while pointing to a sign fastened to a lamp post a few feet away.

The largest of the three spiral horned demons growled at her and spoke something that sounded even in the demon's native tongue rather offensive to Buffy's ears.

"Pretty sure you don't want me to translate that." She heard Angel comment down to her from atop the low bar building where he was standing guard if she needed assistance.

"Rude?" she asked up at him.

"Putting it lightly." He replied back.

Turning her attention back to the brownish orange demons, "Ok, have to admit I didn't catch that, but since I'm in such a great mood, I'll give you the chance to leave peacefully one more time."

The three demons laughed to one another, understanding her but being less than intelligent, missed the fact she was a slayer.

The young brunette huddling on the ground with mascara running down her cheeks from her frightened tears looked to Buffy then, a silent plea for help burning in her blue eyes.

The tallest of the humanoid creatures garbled out something to Buffy again, a series of roars and growls that all sounded like bad indigestion to her.

This time Buffy didn't have a chance to respond when Angel landed in front of the demon with a pissed expression of his face. He grabbed the creature by the horns and slammed it up against the brick wall of the bar with skull cracking force, "Hey, that's my girlfriend you're talking about."

Seeing Angel attacking their leader, the other two growled and ran at him.

"Looks like time's up." Buffy muttered and jumped in, trying not to be too giddy about Angel referring to her as his girlfriend.

"Get the girl." Buffy yelled to Angel, wanting her safe before the defenseless woman got caught up in the mix and got hurt or killed as a result.

He leaped over the demon trying to grab him, his wings catching the air and soaring him up and over the mad creature to land beside the terrified brunette. Immediately he realized the woman had been hit with the Fyarl's paralyzing mucus, which had successfully kept her from running away or screaming for help earlier.

"You're ok now, just shut your eyes and when you open them again, everything will be back to normal, I promise." Willing to believe anything except what she'd seen tonight, the woman obeyed.

He watched Buffy for a moment, seeing she had everything under control, he gathered the petrified woman in his arms and quickly flew her to the near by emergency room where she would get the care she needed.

"Where's a silver knife when you need one." Buffy muttered to herself as she knocked the second demon onto its back, quickly dodging the spray of paralyzing mucus it tried to launch at her.

She remembered from the time Giles had been turned into one of these mindless creatures that silver was as effective on them as wood was to a vampire. Of course there wasn't much in the way of silver pointed objects lying around outside of a seedy bar in the middle of LA. At least when she needed a stake, she could find a tree or picket fence.

The only silver she had on her persons currently was in her ear, and even with her level of expertise she doubted she could kill a demon with her earrings.

Her stake was currently buried in the third demon's right eye socket, which was across the street and by default useless.

The largest recovered from the mini nap that occurred after her booted foot connected to its thick horned head earlier. Now it was spewing a whole collection of growly 'words' she knew for a fact weren't polite.

"Why don't you come over here and say that." She taunted, looking around for something else to fight with. The second demon was getting back to its feet now, its claws itching to treat her like a cat's scratching post.

'_Damn, these guys are strong_.' She thought to herself, '_and far more durable than I like to see_.' She added when the third demon with the stake to the eye got up and turned his one remaining eye towards her. '_Ok, really thought that one was dead_.'

She cast her eyes to the sky and wondered annoyed where her boyfriend Guardian had fluttered off to. '_Yeah, great time to go for a joy flight __Angel__._'

The three demons closed in on her, spreading out to surround her.

As powerful as a Fyarl demon was, at least she could count on their total stupidity.

There attack was sloppy and based mostly on a 'grab and crush' though processes, meaning as long as she stayed out of their grasp, she was doing pretty well.

Of course even stupid demons got lucky sometimes.

While she was dodging a slash from one of the demon's another grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms and preparing to crush her like an empty soda bottle.

'_Oh shit._' She thought as she struggled to free herself.

A sudden breeze swept her hair up across her face and she felt the pressure on her arms vanish. When her hair settled and she could see again, the three demons were picking themselves up off the ground as if they'd been bowled over.

"And where have you been?" She asked her so called boyfriend when she felt him land soundlessly behind her.

"Getting you a present." He answered, over her shoulder, pressing something cold and metallic into her right hand.

She grinned as she felt the comforting weight of the dagger. Bringing it around to study it she nodded her approval. "Ooo, silver, a girl's best friend."

"Now might be a good time to take it for a test drive." He stated as the demons came back in for another try at crushing Buffy into powder.

"I think I will." She grinned out and dove into the action.

Angel stood back and watched, knowing Buffy got pissed when he went all over protective and butted into her fights. She'd made it clear to him that slaying was her job, not his. When she wanted help, he was there in an instant, but he could see this was personal now for her so he kept to the sidelines.

As a bonus he loved watching her work.

That simple grace and fluid movement, the perfection in her timing and how beautiful she looked kicking demon ass.

He could watch her all day.

Or course when she fought, it didn't usually last long.

Equipped with the silver dagger, she took down the Fyarl demons in under a minute, barely breaking a sweat.

"Well, that was kinda anti-climactic." She muttered when the three demons were vanquished.

"Sorry I took so long." Angel apologized for being absent as he glided up beside her, his eyes scanning her for injuries and frowning at finding a bruise under her chin.

Buffy shrugged, "I got a prezzie out of it, so I'll let it slide…this time." She teased when she saw his frown. "How's the woman?" She asked, curious if she was ok.

"Should be alright. I left her at the hospital entrance." Honestly, he'd been more focused on getting Buffy a weapon she could use it against the demons in such short notice.

Seeing the bruise he felt a wave of failure wash over him for not keeping her safer.

Looking up into the sky she noticed dawn was approaching, "Looks like quitting time." She announced, and then cast her eyes up at her now brooding boyfriend, "You walking me home?" She asked, holding out her hand.

His frown vanished as his fingers laced between hers, "As you wish."

A short while later, they were standing on her stairs, their lips having found one another's again for their first a goodnight kiss in a long, long time.

They broke apart slowly, neither wanting the kiss to end but both knowing it was time to go.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked, already missing him and he hadn't even left yet.

"You will." He assured, memorizing her face.

"Goodnight Angel." She breathed against his ear.

"Goodnight Buffy." He repeated.

Before he could be tempted to stay longer, he gave her one last warm smile before his wings carried him off into the lightening sky.

When she was getting ready for bed, Buffy skipped brushing her teeth so she could savor the taste on Angel on her lips just a little bit longer.

...

TBC


End file.
